Bitcoin (BTC) has reportedly fallen into a consolidation phase, as it has maintained a sideways bias between $16,600 and $17,000. This sideways move comes even as some altcoins record notable gains.

Prominent on-chain analytics platform Santiment recently reported that one of the primary reasons behind Bitcoin’s depressed performance is the absence of whales. The data provider tweeted:

“Bitcoin’s ranging prices have a lot to do with declining whale interest. This chart illustrates how closely $BTC and $1M+ valued whale transactions correlate. If prices continue sliding and a spike occurs, this would be a historically #bullish signal.”

Santiment also highlighted that, apart from whales that carry out transactions worth more than $1 million, whales that fall within the $100,000 range are also missing. The data provider revealed that the number of transactions worth roughly $100,000 on the Bitcoin network had slumped to a new yearly low of only 8,040 transactions.

MicroStrategy Keeps Accumulating BTC

While institutional investors appear to be on the decline per Santiment’s assessment, the biggest BTC institutional investor in MicroStrategy has reportedly maintained its habit of acquiring more Bitcoins regardless of the state of the market, after purchasing BTC in the recent dip.  

According to its latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the software company acquired an additional 2,395 BTC worth $42.8 million between November 1 and December 21. The filing showed that this purchase was made at an average BTC price of $17,871.

Interestingly, the company offloaded 704 bitcoins worth $11.8 million on December 22, citing tax reasons. However, MicroStrategy wasn’t done yet, as it acquired an additional 810 BTC worth $13.6 million on Christmas Eve. The purchase occurred at an average BTC price of $16,845, according to filing data.

Overall, the company added a net of 2,500 BTC since November 1 till date. In total, the company holds 132,500 BTC as of the time of writing.

Bearish Sentiment Likely to Persist

As mentioned, Bitcoin is trapped within an unflinching range, between the $17,000 round figure and the $16,600 support. This pattern is likely to persist over the coming weeks, especially with the state of the general financial markets (risk assets, to be precise) and the whale drought.

BTC Statistics Data

BTC Current Price: $16,590

BTC Market Cap: $317.8B

BTC Circulating Supply: 19.2M

BTC Total Supply: 21M

BTC Market Ranking: #1

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Disclaimer

This article should not be taken as financial advice. It is essential to conduct research before making any investment decisions.

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